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Sunday, April 04, 2010

Spicy Sausage, Bean and Cheese Nachos...

Once we arrived back home from the last Charlotte trip (I'm playing catch up as we're back out here again - crazy, right?), we were still pretty wiped, even after a day at home... however, we still needed to eat! Fairly effortless, comforting and in the process of making it, not trashing the kitchen, was what dinner needed to be. After gathering together recipes for the week last Sunday, I came upon a recipe for Spicy Sausage, Bean and Cheese Nachos that looked good enough to be called dinner Monday night.

Removing the casings from a pound of hot Italian turkey sausage was first on my list to do, giving me direct access to brown and crumble the meat into bite-sized pieces. With the crumbles being scooped out of the pan to drain, whites of a few scallions were next in line, along with plenty of chopped fresh garlic. The heat in the skillet almost immediately sends their fragrant aroma right to your nose, letting you know it's time to stir in the black beans, broth, chili powder and cumin to warm through.

With the help of a potato masher, we changed the look of this mixture by smashing most of the beans, leaving a few stragglers behind, to give us a chunky-smooth texture. A wooden spoon would get you the same result if you are lacking the tool we used, though it may take a bit more time and effort.

To assemble the nachos, we divvied half of the total amount of tortilla chips we were planning on using between six individual baking dishes, then did the same with the bean mixture and the two cheeses we were using - pepper Jack and sharp cheddar. Repeating the process builds a generous stack for each portion, readying them for a trip in the oven to heat the chips and melt the cheeses into a gooey delight. Serving this family style would work just as well too - use a large oven-safe serving platter (a parchment-lined baking sheet would be fine) and follow the same process, making two layers in total.

As mentioned, I used hot Italian turkey sausage - if you don't groove on spice, try swapping this out for the sweet version for a more herb-y, mild experience. You could, if you prefer, use pork sausage, but both of us felt the leaner turkey stood its ground and worked well here. We didn't add any other toppings (and frankly, didn't miss them), but if you find your nachos are naked without some, a few spoonfuls of salsa and a hefty dollop of sour cream might be in your future!